So this dude was giving away about 300 gallons of wort, as one of the thermocouplers (I think?) was fucacta'd in his kettle...He had mashed 300+ gallons, and offered it to local homebrewers...by the time I got to his brewery today, he had gotten rid of 150 gallons!

In any event, awesome dude, great copper brewroom, though I'd not been to his brewery before (Franklin's Brewery in Hyattsville, MD). Decided to make a Black Belgian IPA and a Pumpkin Imperial Stout.

Anyway, the wort was only around 1.050 "ish" according to him, so I picked up about 6 lbs of DME to go into it. 7ish points per pound, I'd wind up around 1.070 right?

Wrong. Had a great day of brewing, suds with the boys, and Ryder Cup, and the hydrometer read 22 brix for the BIPA, and 21 brix for the stout....ie 1.087 and 1.092 respectively.

Great news, except that all I had was a vile of each WLP 500 Belgian Trappist and WLP 002 English Ale, respectively. It looks like some have had good luck with the WLP 500 on higher gravity brews, but I am a little worried for poor old WLP 002...I feel like it might be outmatched by the gravity. In any event, as with all things brewing...we'll see!

The coolest part, however, is that for all the wort he has given away, he's going to schedule a homebrew tasting @ his place in a few months! Really great idea for wort that would have otherwise been dumped....love this guy!

http://www.franklinsbrewery.com/

PS Wouldn't you know it, less than 12 hours after pitching the British Ale yeast, those hard-working Brits have gotten to work, the bubbles are slowly but surely spitting out of my fermenter. Those lazy Belgians are still milling about probably talking about mussels and monasteries...though, according to the review above, the lag is pretty big for WLP 500.